Sorry -- just can't root for the Oklahoma City Thunder

By JIM MOORE, SPECIAL TO SEATTLEPI.COM

Published 10:25 pm, Wednesday, April 27, 2011

I read the other day that no NBA team had ever rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series. But that didn't stop me from rooting like mad for the Nuggets last night, hoping they'd become the first team to do it.

The Nuggets trailed Oklahoma City 3-0 and then 3-1 after beating the Thunder in overtime on Saturday and damned if they didn't build a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter of Game 5 Wednesday night.

I was literally applauding for Nuggets that I'd never heard of, wanting them to spoil the evening for all of those Oklahoma City fans in their dark blue T-shirts.

The Go 2 Guy also writes for 710Sports.com and kitsapsun.com. Reach Jim at jimmoorethego2guy@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter as @cougsgo. He appears weekdays from 3 to 7 p.m. on "Danny, Dave and Moore" on 710 ESPN Seattle radio.

Naturally the team that I wanted to win didn't. Kevin Durant scored 41 points, including the last nine for Oklahoma City as the Thunder beat the Nuggets 100-97 to advance to a Western Conference semifinal matchup against Memphis or San Antonio.

(If you watched the last 9.4 seconds of regulation and the overtime of Wednesday night's Game 5 between the Grizzlies and Spurs like I did, you had to feel bad for Memphis, on the verge of closing it out until – wap! – Gary Neal hits a 3-pointer at the regulation horn. San Antonio breezed after that in OT, winning 110-103. Memphis still leads the series 3-2, but that was a crushing defeat. And if you had the Grizzlies and 6 ½, my sincere condolences.)

It's been three years since the Sonics left town, but hard feelings linger. Durant and Nick Collison are the only Thunder players who were on Seattle's last Sonics team in 2007-08, and even they didn't want to move.

But most Sonics fans root against Durant, Collison and the Thunder anyway because they hate Clay Bennett, the man who took their team away.

I don't even know how I feel about the Thunder. The Sonics came to Seattle when I was 10. I grew up wanting to cover the Sonics for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and was fortunate enough to be the P-I's beat reporter from 1990-96.

After that, my interest in the Sonics and the NBA waned to the point that I stopped going to games, and it didn't bother me all that much when they left town.

But suddenly it bugs me to see the Thunder thriving. I can't watch them without thinking that all of this should be happening at KeyArena instead of the Ford Center. It also brings back memories of how much fun the NBA playoffs were with those Sonics teams in the '90s.

I'm conflicted. I want to tell the guys who made the Sonicsgate documentary to give it a rest and not heckle Howard Schultz at a Costco book signing and not attend a Thunder-Nuggets playoff game in Sonics gear. Because really, what's the point?

But then I think, heck, if I were their age, I'd probably be making the same appearances as a more belligerent version of them.

The other night I noticed a Facebook post from a former Sonics employee who was fired after the team moved to Oklahoma City. He's so bitter that he prayed to the basketball gods to not allow the Thunder to win an NBA championship. He said he'd become an atheist if the gods don't honor his prayers.

I want to shake this guy and tell him to let it go, but then I find myself wanting the Thunder to lose in the worst way too.

Former P-I sports editor Ron Matthews used to be my boss and is now the director of interactive media and publications for the Thunder. I like Ron and respect Ron, but I want to strangle Ron every time I see him post his Thunder-loving crap on Facebook.

So where do I get off telling the Sonicsgate guys to give it a rest? Told you I was conflicted. I'm right there with them.

I figured that references to the Sonics would fade in time, but they haven't. Nuggets coach George Karl spoke last week about his ongoing sadness that Seattle doesn't have a team anymore. Last Saturday the former Sonics coach said if the Nuggets had won Game 3 of the OKC series, he planned to wear his Space Needle tie for Game 4.

And late last week, Charles Barkley bristled when he heard that Oklahoma City was 7-2 all-time in the playoffs against the Nuggets at home. The Sonics were 5-2 against the Nuggets in Seattle, and the Thunder was 2-0 against the Nuggets in Oklahoma City.

"You can't take another city's stats!" exclaimed Barkley, who later on the TNT broadcast said he misses Seattle.

The Thunder will have a good shot at beating Memphis or San Antonio in the next round so it's not unrealistic to think that this nightmare will continue in the Western Conference finals.

If they play New Orleans or Portland in the conference finals, the Thunder would be favored to advance to the NBA Finals. If they play Dallas or the Lakers, you'd still have to like their chances.

Point being, if you think it's bad watching them now, how will you feel if the Thunder makes it to the NBA Finals? And who would you root for if they play the Heat?

Would you rather see a victory parade through Oklahoma City or LeBron James gloating and flashing an I-told-you-so grin?

Here's how bad the thought of those scenarios is – I'll be watching the Mariners instead.